-12 Months- 12 Eco Changes- Making An Eco Swap Of Fast Fashion

Month 11- November it’s Fast Fashion

Background…..

As when I decided to go Vegan back in 2013, I started with the food, gradually as I did the next shop I swapped over the milk and butter and cheese, we obviously stopped eating or buying any meat but finding substitutes didn’t happen over night.

My husband Peter then joined me a few months later as he felt better not eating meat every day, every meal as it was me shopping & cooking the food we all ate.

Our kids were young at the time 3, 5 & 6 so swapping the younger 2 over wasn’t a big deal as they were at the stage of trying different food out all the time anyway. We also found after eating dairy they would throw up later in the day, so it was easier to just look for the V vegan sign on food than to keep checking for non dairy products for them.

Clayton, being Autistic had (and still has) a self limiting diet of dry brown or beige finger foods only so he wasn’t included in our switch, getting him to just eat was a struggle in its self.

Anyway…..my point is, nothing happens over night, going Vegan we started with food, it then progressed onto products, clothing, shoes, coats, linen, furniture, now we chose items without a second thought.

This progressed onto what was happening on our land and led us to permaculture, principles & design. Permaculture principle No6 is: Produce No Waste. This is the overall aim.

Just making 1 swap starts to make a difference to our planet. What could you do today?

Simple swap of fast fashion & looking at other alternatives

We (I) have always been very savvy with clothing & shoes especially when you have 3 kids in 3.5yrs, they pretty much all end up the same size which means there are rarely hand-me-downs and 3 sets of the same things bought all in the same sizes every year!!

Here’s a few things we do, not really just this month it’s an ongoing lifestyle we’ve been living for over a decade because you can only wear 1 pair of shoes, 1 coat at a time! But certainly worth taking up an eco swap month to talk about it.

So here are 3 ways you can look at the way you buy & wear items

First: You don’t need to have loads of items

Limited Clothes & Shoes

I’ve always kept shoes for everyone to 4 pairs. Shoes only get replaced when they grow out of them or in our case as adults when they wear out.

– Smart – School/Work or Social

– Trainers for Sports

– Wet shoes -Wellies or Snow boots

– Dry shoes – Sliders or crocs

Every pair of shoes in the house for 5 of us.
Peter literally only has those 2 pairs on the top!

Clothes are kept to a minimum too. Key is keeping it basic & just add layers

Second: You don’t have to buy everything new

Buy from ebay & sell them back on ebay

Ever since the kids were tiny I would buy bundles from ebay, use them & put them back on, to sell. They were barley in them for 6mths & still useable. I’d use that money to buy the next set of items

I still do this with hoodies & zip up hoodies. There are always GAP hoodies on there for £3.00-£5.00 & the next year when we need to size up they go back on & next ones bought or I just buy larger over sizes ones now that last a few years before I change them up

This style of recycling-reusing not only saves money as you are selling to buy the next ones, it saves being part of the fast & disposable fashion cycle.

Third- You can make your own clothes

Tied Dying & Crocheting

We’ve been tie dying for a good 4-5 years now. I get the £1-£2 plain white tshirts either from the back to school packs in supermarkets, primark or ebay.

We then buy a pack of coloured dye & the kids all make their own tops for the year. YEP THE WHOLE YEAR. They have 6 each and that’s all they wear. You’ll see these all across our instagram accounts

Katrina & Clayton – BuildingAFoodForest_Scotland

Katrina & Eliza – OurCrochetLife

Katrina & Riley – OurVeganFoodLife

Here’s some over the years, which they love wearing as they made them themselves. Great way to be creative too.

At the end of the year they get either gifted to friends & family if no holes in them & ones that are no longer wearable get cut up to make other things like hair scrunchies, ties for the garden to hold things up, long ribbons to tie up gifts. We can always find uses for them, they are never wasted or thrown away.